I had a busy week and almost no cheap internet access. I am still under the living and trying to come to terms with the fact that my stay in Aotearoa is almost over.
Monday I visited the Waitomo Caves and without a relaxing day I was on the road again on tuesday. The coach took me via Whangerei, Paihia, Kerikeri to a small town called Kaitaia, where I spent the night in the Mainstreet Lodge. All in all a nearly eight hours on the road.
Kaitaia fits into the category 'Don't want be buried here.' But it was my planned gateway to Cape Reinga. I booked a daytrip for wednesday with Harrisons Cape Runners. It included a visit to the Ancient Kauri Kingdom, Cape Reinga and Ninety Mile Beach.
The Kauri is a special tree here in New Zealand. Very hard wood and nice to work with. But nowadays the tree is protected. But kiwis are really intelligent and started to dig in the swamps to get ancient tree parts that are sometimes several 10000 years old. Those ancient Kauris are the stuff that is sold today.
After that we visited several Beaches on the east coast and had lunch at one.
After lunch the first real highlight of the day followed. Cape Reinga.
We spent an hour at the cape before we got to the adventure part. Sandboarding on a dune.
After that the most amazing thing followed. Driving with a normal roadbus along a beach. The Ninety Mile Beach (not really ninety miles long) is classified as a State Highway. As long you are in the low tide time you may drive on it while standard road rules apply. Driving on the left side and no speeding and stuff. The most important part for tourists is to not loose your car in quicksand or the high tide, because your insurance is not covering this fun.
I really would have liked to drive myself here. But still it was amazing.
The coach driver was going 90km/h on the beach and we where in no time 70km down the beach, before we needed to go back on the ordinary sealed road. Next time I will rent a car.
In the evening I met a cyclist who wanted to go from Cape Reinga to the south. After exchanging some stories I wished him luck, but I doubt that the weather will be good for him. The last weeks it was getting colder and colder. I need to go to Australia and then back to warm South East Asia.
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